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A KERRY MAN is in the middle of running 24 marathons in 24 days across Ireland in a bid to raise money for people living with Spina Bifida.
Shane Finn kicked off his journey in Donegal last week and has been running a marathon each day since. He’s set to complete his 10th marathon this morning in Meath.
What’s Shane’s motivation? His cousin Mary (35), who lives with Spina Bifida and Hydrocephalus.
“The reason I chose to run 24 marathons in 24 days is because over the past few years I’ve seen that it’s very, very difficult for my cousin Mary and her family 24 hours a day. It’s not a nine to five thing,” Finn told TheJournal.ie.
“Putting my body on the line for 24 days is the least I can do.”
Spina Bifida causes a defect of the spine in which part of the spinal cord is exposed through a gap in the backbone.
People with Spina Bifida can be paralysed from the waist down, and some may have learning difficulties
The thing about Spina Bifida is that you’re born with it, you life with it and you die with it.
“I can still go to the bathroom myself, I can still feed myself, I can still put on my own clothes. We take simple little things for granted whereas somebody a little bit less fortunate than us would give anything to do those things,” Finn said.
This isn’t the first time Finn has set himself a challenge like this. Back in 2014, he raised €36,000 for Spina Bifida Hydrocephalus Ireland (SBHI).
SBHI is the national organisation which provides services and support for people with the condition and their families.
Fundraising
Finn is aiming to raise €100,000 for SBHI throughout the 24 days.
In the lead up to the marathons, SBHI members and volunteers have been running fundraising events, including 24 hour book readathons, a ‘give up coffee for 24 days’ challenge and an ‘eat 24 donuts in 2.4 minutes’ competition.
“There are people in this country that need our help. There’s little kids outgrowing their wheelchairs that are in constant pain every single day because their families can’t afford a new wheelchair,” Finn said.
“For things like that to even happen in this day and age in Ireland is just shameful.
“Every single penny can help, the charity is so small and we know where every single penny is going to go. A full financial plan has already been made for where the money will go.”
‘You can’t really train for this’
Finn has spent over a year training for this set of marathons, however he said that no amount of training could prepare someone for something like this.
“There was a lot of consistent training with back-to-back running. I tried to replicate it as much as I could,” he said.
I won’t lie, you can’t really train for something like this because it’s 60% mental strength and 40% physical.
Just the thought of being barely able to walk down the stairs and having to run a marathon, I have to go through that every morning but I just dig deep and think about the people I’m actually doing it for.
So far, Finn has run through Mayo, Galway, Roscommon, Longford, Westmeath and Cavan.
He plans to complete his final marathon in his native town of Dingle, Kerry in two week’s time on 15 July.
“Personally, I want to see how far I can actually push myself. I know I’ll get to Dingle and I still won’t have the answer,” he said.
“It’s not something you’ll see being done every day and it’s not something I’d recommend everybody to do but you’ll find out what you’re made of if you give something like this a go.”
Around 40 babies are born with Spina Bifida each year in Ireland.
People can donate €4 to the cause by texting GIVE to 50300.
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Good luck Shane Finn, fair play to you!
This is an addiction ! It’s very good for the charity but this mans health will suffer in the future. All these people running more & more races are damaging their bodies. It’s getting out of control. I hate being a kill joy but these athletes will suffer in the future.
@Martin Sinnott: 1 a year is what a dictor told me. More than that is bad for you
@Martin Sinnott: got any research to back any of your claims up?
@Martin Sinnott: Agree I ran two marathons. It’s all the training that’s the killer not just the race. I was out 4-5 times per week training for 9 months.
@Martin Sinnott: And whatevers ails these pioneers in the future will more than likely create a run to help them. I don’t know the man, I now know why he’s doing it, but to run 624 miles in a mere 24 days must justify something he REALLY STRONGLY believes in. All the best, and may GOD be with you..
@Shoot First: any actual medical evidence other than some article on a website??
@Martin Sinnott: you had it bang on with kill joy. You could have saved us all the bother by stopping there
Keep it up Shane, it’ll be an incredible achievement when you are done.
If he would of said even 10 I would of been thinking he’s mad . But 24 ….. God help his legs at the end of it .
Fair play to him for raising money for a much needed cause though .
Very fit or very mad, probably both.
Running marathon is an achievement. Putting ones life at risk to raise awareness and money for a charity is commendable.
But running 24 marathons in 24 days is simply self-harm and is possibly born out of an addiction.
Self-harm as a means of fund raising should not be endorsed or promoted by the media.
Some man, he’s running now as we speak from Balbriggan to Dublin. But for the record, there are even more mad people than Shane, let me mention Spanish man Ricardo Abat. He ran 500 marathons in 500 consecutive days. Yes no mistake here 5 hundred. To make it even more insane, the man did a part of it while having full time 8 hour a day job in the factory. Because he worked shifts on some days he completed two marathons in one day.
Absolute bonkers, but goes to show what human body is capable of. Now think about it when you’re too tired to walk the dog or play with kids after your 8 hours desk office job :)
@Tomasz Kuchnik: great comment. He’s obviously motivated by the suffering of his cousin who should be taken care better by our health services. The cuts have hit the least able to fight back. For shame.
Maybe the man knows the sacrifice he is making , and is willing to do it . However should he do a Forrest Gump , and keep on going , we’ll go with Mark Sinnotts’ comment .
Not very good for the knees or the ankles. Just go into the sports surgery clinic and have a chat with some of the patients.
@Tony O Neill: great comment. I bet you are a very active lad with loads of experience…
People who don’t run putting up stupid comments if you take it easy it does no harm to body didn’t back fella called Stevie in the last 2 year’s run 100 marathons in 100 days and 60 ultras ( 40 miles ) in 60 day’s, but all the couch potatoes will sit on their holes telling people running is bad for you, Fair play to this fella
@Robert Treston: Ricardo Abat, 607 marathons in 607 days. After he did his famous 500 earlier too.
Ard fhear Shane!
Wonderful effort. Glad to donate. But it’s such a pity that our government fails these people. That does not take away from his wonderful but painful endeavour. Best of luck.
There are too much of this on the roads with traffic backing up for ages especially on the ring of Kerry which sees runners doing it with their entourage. Cyclist are not too bad as going a bit faster and spread out. Tractors reversing around the 180km route is another one!
At least there hasn’t been a bed push in a while!
Well done to this chap
Hope it doesn’t put too much pressure on his ticker
Good cause – Totally stupid idea.
What’s stupid is the negative comments and the comments from non-runners etc. It isn’t harming you. It is his body his choice and if any of you even read the article properly you would have seen that he has successfully run 12 marathons 12 days already and that he is mentally strong as well as physically. It takes 60% mental strength and 40% physical strength. I personally know Shane. He has done a number of Ironman comps, marathons and he has prepared for this for over a year. He knows what he is doing. He is an absolute inspiration and legend. I am honoured to know him and run with him. He is so mentally strong and positive always. Best of luck with the rest of the challenge Shane
Absolutely amazing #legend just passed him going through kilmacanogue looking very comfortable well done Shane
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